Harvard Art Museums > 1917.115: Roundel Fragment: Mounted Hunters and Animals Textile Arts Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Roundel Fragment: Mounted Hunters and Animals , 1917.115,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 22, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/213116. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1917.115 Title Roundel Fragment: Mounted Hunters and Animals Classification Textile Arts Work Type textile Date 6th century Places Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Eastern Mediterranean Find Spot: Africa, Egypt Period Byzantine period, Early Culture Byzantine Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/213116 Physical Descriptions Medium Silk Technique Woven Dimensions 24.13 x 17.78 cm (9 1/2 x 7 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History This fragment is of Alexandrian or Syrian provenance but was found in Egypt. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Denman W. Ross Accession Year 1917 Object Number 1917.115 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description Fragment of a Sasanian-style roundel depicting a pair of hunters on horseback. This textile is an example of weft-faced compound weave (samite) with silk warps and wefts. The front side of a samite weave is distinguishable by its greater shine/luster. The stepped lines forming the curved borders of the roundel that do not correspond to the textile's threadcount indicate that this design has been scaled up from a smaller pattern. The figural design is created in blue and buff colored threads with red details against a red ground. Most of the rider on the left has been cut away by a modern hand. The pair of riders may represent Amazons. Below the riders are two roaring lions who turn their heads to look at the hunters. The lions have blue heads and legs and buff colored bodies. Below the lions are a pair of smaller, adorsed blue quadrupeds. The border of the roundel is buff and contains red heart-shaped flowers and blue leaves and stems. A larger blue flower with lobed petals and a red center sits within the border at the top of the roundel. An additional vegetal design is visible at the upper right corner. Commentary The brown staining evident on this textile suggests it was used to wrap a body in a tomb. Red heart-shaped flowers feature in the roundel borders of the extremely fine Annunciation silk in the Vatican Museums (M35). Such flowers are also present in the borders of silks with charioteers, hunters and archers, and Amazons generally dated to the eighth or ninth centuries. See p. 91 of Leslie Brubaker and John Haldon's Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era (ca. 680-850): The Sources, an Annotated Survey (Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman monographs; v. 7). Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001. The composition, color scheme, and border motifs closely imitate those on the the higher quality Amazon silk in the Victoria and Albert Museum (no. 558&A-1893). Verification Level This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
